As per reports, Nichols was found unresponsive in his cell at 6:50am local time Sunday, October 5, sending the prison into lockdown.
Staff are said to have performed life-saving procedures, but the 60-year-old was pronounced dead at 7:22am.
On Tuesday, October 7, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation revealed that another inmate at the facility, Wilbert Baldwin, 41, had been served a murder warrant over Nichols’ death.
Baldwin is serving a sentence for second degree murder in Richmond County. The inmate will continue serving his current sentence while Nichols’ murder is investigated.